The brand old Item

Well... Romance is a nice thing, and it can make story more thrilling when it’s well made. But I really don’t see the point of overthinking such stuff either. My favorite romantic plots are just a subtle hints of what may be between the characters, that makes a good space to FAN-tasise a little bit ;) But on the net we get showered with all kinds of canon and non canon pairs, all sorts of stories, pictures of them together kissing and all, to me its just destroying the mood. I really tend to focus on the plot of the story more and appreciate it when the romance is well-made. (Its been a long time since I’ve seen or read anything that has both). I also focus on the characters alone - having my favorites, being somehow inspired by them. Maybe I sound like grumpy old man but to me all the hype about non-canon and most of canon couples is just a boring waste of time. 

I remembered this One Piece challenge I made a few years ago and I wanted to try taking it again, with my current skills and more attention but also with way less haste. 

Sakusa Kyoomi for the Almost-realistic-series

All pictures (grouped by teams): Karasuno, Aoba Johsai, Nekoma, Fukurodani, Shiratorizawa, Dateko, Other

Ukai Keishin for the Almost-realistic-series

Sarukui Yamato for the Almost-realistic-series

Miya brothers for the Almost-realistic-series

Shimizu Kiyoko for the Almost-realistic-series

Thank you!

As for the tips, it’s hard to give any if I didn’t see your drawings, but I’m sure the 2 most important things are drawing from reference and a lot of practice. 

Have a folder for reference pictures, collect them in net whenever you see  photos that you think could help you. While drawing don’t try to copy the reference face, just watch how everything you need looks like, watch where shadows are, compare the size and position of each element with other elements (like you know that the nose is halfway between the eyes - it’s obvious example, just compare other things like that). Observe the variations you mentioned - each person has a different shape of face, eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, chin etc. Let your reference pictures have people in different positions, as you want to learn drawing faces from different angles and fitting the rest of the body. Remember that the character you’re drawing doesn’t have to look exactly like the person on the reference photo. You can use more than one reference for your pictures, like one for the pose, another for eyes, etc. Drawing faces realistically is SUPER hard when you don’t use references.

And as I wrote before - practice a lot and don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t turn out well, just enjoy the drawing and it will eventually get better. 

To be honest I wouldn’t say I am good at the stuff… Actually, for me, drawing faces is the most difficult thing in the “anatomy” topic and I have to learn A LOT. I often upload a picture and then lowkey hate myself for it because the next day I see how badly I drew something. But I learned not to care - If I did, I would never finish and upload anything. If i don’t, I can just move on to the next picture and learn more and I know that few months later I will be able to easily draw it right.